We arrived in Honningsvag on August 9th and had never been to this town before. It is as far north as you can get in mainland Norway. We had set up a tour to hike to North Cape through Viator at this port stop. We left with a small group of 6 in a van through the northern countryside of Norway. It seemed like you could see reindeer on every hill side just wandering around. Our first stop was Skarsvag which is the northern most fishing village in the world. Although cod is the primary fish caught in this area it is well known for the king crab fished there. We were also amazed to see how many reindeer just ambled through the town blocking traffic and just meandering around. We boarded a zodiac boat here for our trip to where our hike would start. As we approached our drop off point, we looked up at the large, intimidating cliff in front of us and wondered if we would be able to make it to the top. We were being dropped off at the same starting point that many kings and queens had take to climb up to North Cape. We assumed that if they could hike up the steep cliff face in their gowns and formal clothes, we should be able to do it in our shorts and t-shirts. We had picked a great day for this hike and the weather was warm and the sun was out. For those of you that don’t know, North Cape is the northern most point of Europe on the mainland. No other stretch of land in mainland Europe is any further north and it was deemed to be an adventure back in the 1600’s and 1700’s for many of the wealthy people, including kings and queens, to venture to this unique place. This certainly would have been a very adventurous port stop for a cruise back in those days with those small wooden ships! As we pulled up to the small dock, we saw 3 reindeer just grazing around the area. Our guide said this was very unusual for them to come down this far.
After a short discussion down at the bottom we began our trek up the mountainside. Although it was steep, the trail was well made. At the top there were 21 trail cut backs to make it up the steep grade. At times rocks were loose and you had to choose your footing carefully. For those of us who didn’t like heights, we didn’t look down too much and leaned a little closer into the side of the mountain. We took several stops, and everyone seemed to be doing well. It wasn’t a long hike in terms of distance, but it was a demanding hike in terms of elevation. We eventually made it to the top and made a sigh of relief. The views along the way were very scenic and it was such a beautiful day to just enjoy the sights. We still had a mile or so walk to North Cape, but it was an easy walk through the moss and lichen covered rocks over reasonably level ground. When we got to the visitors center our guide bought us a glass of champagne to toast our success and gave us a certificate to acknowledge that we made it up this unique trail in the same tradition of past kings and queens.
Outside the visitor’s center is a globe that commemorates the spot as being the most northern piece of land in Europe. It was a nice place to take a picture to commemorate our success in making it there. Our guide did tell us that people had later discovered there was a small peninsula that you could see below this point that was a half mile further north than Norh Cape, but no one wanted to talk about that. Also, outside the visitor’s center there are 7 bronze castings created from drawings of 7 children selected from different countries around the world. The drawings were meant to depict how children of different cultures can work together. This project is now called Children of the Earth and awards a substantial amount of money each year to an individual or group who promotes the quality of life of children in today's world. This is certainly a worthwhile place to visit if you are ever up in this remote area.
Regards,
Sharon and Greg
After a short discussion down at the bottom we began our trek up the mountainside. Although it was steep, the trail was well made. At the top there were 21 trail cut backs to make it up the steep grade. At times rocks were loose and you had to choose your footing carefully. For those of us who didn’t like heights, we didn’t look down too much and leaned a little closer into the side of the mountain. We took several stops, and everyone seemed to be doing well. It wasn’t a long hike in terms of distance, but it was a demanding hike in terms of elevation. We eventually made it to the top and made a sigh of relief. The views along the way were very scenic and it was such a beautiful day to just enjoy the sights. We still had a mile or so walk to North Cape, but it was an easy walk through the moss and lichen covered rocks over reasonably level ground. When we got to the visitors center our guide bought us a glass of champagne to toast our success and gave us a certificate to acknowledge that we made it up this unique trail in the same tradition of past kings and queens.
Outside the visitor’s center is a globe that commemorates the spot as being the most northern piece of land in Europe. It was a nice place to take a picture to commemorate our success in making it there. Our guide did tell us that people had later discovered there was a small peninsula that you could see below this point that was a half mile further north than Norh Cape, but no one wanted to talk about that. Also, outside the visitor’s center there are 7 bronze castings created from drawings of 7 children selected from different countries around the world. The drawings were meant to depict how children of different cultures can work together. This project is now called Children of the Earth and awards a substantial amount of money each year to an individual or group who promotes the quality of life of children in today's world. This is certainly a worthwhile place to visit if you are ever up in this remote area.
Regards,
Sharon and Greg
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